Blog Tour with Division Zero

Friday, July 4, 2014

Most cops get to deal with living criminals, but Agent Kirsten Wren is not most cops.

A
gifted psionic with a troubled past, Kirsten possesses a rare
combination of abilities that give her a powerful weapon against
spirits. In 2418, rampant violence and corporate warfare have left no
shortage of angry wraiths in West City. Most exist as little more than
fleeting shadows and eerie whispers in the darkness.

Kirsten is
shunned by a society that does not understand psionics, feared by those
who know what she can do, and alone in a city of millions. Every so
often, when a wraith gathers enough strength to become a threat to the
living, these same people rely on her to stop it.

Unexplained
killings by human-like androids known as dolls leave the Division One
police baffled, causing them to punt the case to Division Zero. Kirsten,
along with her partner Dorian, wind up in the crosshairs of corporate
assassins as they attempt to find out who – or what – is behind the
random murders before more people die.

She tries to hold on to
the belief that no one is beyond redemption as she pursues a killer
desperate to claim at least one more innocent soul – that might just be
hers.

She chuckled. “I’m not a big fan of religion, Father. No offense. I didn’t have the greatest experience with it growing up.”
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault. I told you about my mother already. She couldn’t deal with having a psionic child, thought I was a minion of the Devil. I can see ghosts, spirits, and apparently demons. When wayward haunts came to me for help she thought I was praying to Satan. It got pretty, uhh, bad.” Kirsten rubbed her hand, the spot Mother used to burn. “All the while she did those things to me, she kept calling on Jesus, asking why he’d done this to her. As if my very existence was some kind of punishment for her to suffer through.”
Father Villera leaned forward over the desk, extending a hand. “There are three kinds of people in religion, my child.”
After catching herself giving him a patronizing look, she took his hand.
“Some seek to use the word of God as a tool to hurt and control others. They care not for the meaning of anything, only seeking to profit off fear and superstition for their own enrichment. Most of those do not have any true faith at all. They are usually the most vehement defenders of ideas, loudly challenging any dissent and refusing to permit any discussion that contradicts their views.”
She nodded. “Yeah, like trying to argue with a three year old. They know they’re wrong and there’s nothing they can say to validate their point―so they just scream and throw things.”
Father Villera chuckled. “Then, you have people who expect God to knock on their door every time they call on him. They blame him for everything that goes wrong in their life as if they were the only person to exist in the entire world. As if God himself came down and decided it was their turn to suffer. They take no responsibility for their own lives or decisions. On the more extreme end, some look to use their beliefs as an excuse to permit the inexcusable.”
“Yeah.”
“Some people are content to accept faith for what it is. They do not question why things happen and they do not make wishes as if on a genie. For them, it is simply enough to know he is there. There is no purpose in baiting those who do not believe. I know in my heart what I believe, and a man is no lesser for disagreeing with me. One cannot force another to find faith; it must find everyone in their own way.”
Kirsten stared at the desk. “Nice try, Father. I’m still not sure if I’m ready to believe in an invisible man in the sky. I’ve talked to dead priests who couldn’t understand why what they saw after death was different than what they believed all their lives.”
He smiled as she let go of his hand, and reclined. “When you are ready, you will know. You may never believe, and that is fine.”
“For a priest, you sure seem to know a lot about abyssals.”
“Who do you think had to deal with them before psionics came around?” He winked.

AUTHOR BIO

Born in a little town known as South Amboy NJ in 1973, Matthew has been
creating science fiction and fantasy worlds for most of his reasoning
life. Somewhere between fifteen to eighteen of them spent developing the world
in which Division Zero, Virtual Immortality, and The Awakened Series take place.
He has several other projects in the works as well as a collaborative science
fiction endeavor with author Tony Healey.

Hobbies and
Interests:
Matthew is an avid gamer, a recovered WoW addict, Gamemaster for
two custom systems (Chronicles of Eldrinaath [Fantasy] and Divergent Fates [Sci
Fi], and a fan of anime, British humour (<- deliberate), and intellectual
science fiction that questions the nature of reality, life, and what
happens after it. He is also fond of cats.
Awards: Prophet of the
Badlands (excerpt) – Honorable Mention – Writers of the Future

Thanks for taking part in the Division Zero blog tour, Missie. (The excerpt above is actually from Thrall, book 3 in the series) - It was my fault as I sent the wrong file to Giselle when she was getting things up and running. Kirsten starts off quite anti-religion but that excerpt is from the point where she's altering her world view.

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